The Soviets: An Enigmatic Study in Gray

A former KGB chief, it was said, would never be allowed to rule the
Soviet Union. Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov confounded such predictions
when he assumed control of the country's Communist Party in November
1982. Within seven months, Andropov had also secured the important
title of Chairman of the Defense Council and been elected President of
the Soviet Union. It had taken his predecessor, Leonid Brezhnev, 13
years to accumulate all the same trappings of power. The new Soviet
leader, it seemed, was a man in a hurry.